The Gaeltacht authority elections may be postponed yet again. The Government has been asked to delay the poll, due later this year, until next spring.
The request came in a resolution passed at a special Udaras na Gaeltachta board meeting at the weekend. The motion, which has been forwarded to the Minister of State for Arts, Heritage, the Gaeltacht and the Islands, Mr Eamon O Cuiv, requests that the vote be put back on the basis that a December poll would be "very unsuitable".
However, it is understood that existing board members who are also serving on local authorities are concerned about the "fatigue factor" after the June vote, and the threat posed by potential Community candidates. They believe that a significant time lapse between the local poll and the Udaras vote would ensure a better reception on the doorsteps.
Should the Minister of State accede to the request, he would have to introduce further legislation to facilitate it. Already, amending legislation has been drawn up to cover the first postponement.
The Udaras elections were to have been held on June 11th, the same day as the European and local elections. Last April the Minister of State announced that a short Bill would be presented to the Oireachtas, extending the longest permissible interval between elections to an Udaras from five years to five years and six months.
The lifespan would have to be extended to six years now, if this latest request were granted.
Mr Nollaig O Gadhra, member of Conradh na Gaeilge and lecturer in the Galway-Mayo Institute of Technology, has condemned the proposal. He believes the authority should have a four-year cycle, and that elections should be held before the European Parliament poll "to ensure that promises made at this level are raised again in a regional and national context".
The Government is already anxious to expand the authority, and new legislation drawn up to by the Minister. These "two further members" would be representatives from the Department of Arts, Heritage, the Gaeltacht and the Islands, and the Department of Finance.
The legislation allows for regional Udaras committees to be established on a statutory basis, and proposes that new procedures be put in place in relation to developments at the level of Udaras chief executive, the regional committees, and the authority itself.
increase the Udaras board from seven to 16 people is due to be presented to the Dail next week. It is expected to be taken at committee stage the following week, the intention being to have it in place before the elections.
The expanded representation would mean that Galway would have five board members; Donegal four; Mayo and Kerry two each; and Meath, Cork and Waterford one each.
The Bill also includes provision for the appointment of a chairman and two further members